Knitted fabric



arch 9, 1943 Q. FREGEQLLE KNITTED FABRIC Filed June 4, 1941 lint/ ll lmll g.

. fabric greatly enlarged-and illustrating one em-' and adjacent ,theselvage, of thefabrlc and under suflicient tension 50; thatuwhen lreleasedand al-' asherein illustrated a.t .spaced walesyand-sindea ibke app ar ce, ;-..0n s ec fic. emb dim Patented Mar. 9, 1943 Hemp'hill' Company,

I case deals in stocking tops, more .especially;'-'elastic"garter tops 1 in which an elastic yamaisincorporatediwlth inelastic yam;or yarns totimpart' elasticit sto-tthe,

fabric and to simulatea' ribappearancere 5 -Inthe figures'of drawing: :11 3- Fig. 1 is a conventional showing of a section of bodiment of the inventiom',

Fig.- 2 is an elevation of part oiian articlel'of has been incorporated withgan inelastic =;yam at lowedito contract, the saidelastic yarn will draw together sufficiently tq cause the fabricto assume of the invention involves: knitting the elastic yarnpende i t o a es, but t isi o be understood that t rsc mes maybe emp yed, forzexampl 1 the elastic yarn maybe-knittedzin conjunction v with an inelastic yarn, may belaicl in a. base fabric s of inelastic yarn or'incorporated to be heldvat spaced wales in any other satisfactory away.

- According to theprincipleof the-invention; for several courses at and adjacent; the selvage, inelastic yarn employed is to be1-finer or ,of lessi weight than a yarn substituted afterthoseflrst few courses, sothat the edgecof the fabricl'will be drawn inwardly as illustrated-fin Fig. 2 This at the edge, a yarn change is to be made to a 'The above maybe,varied by continuing to feed desired result is to be obtained by feedinga single inelastic yarnvof finer gage than would normally be employed for the particular ;gageof needle knitting, or than would be employed for asparticular stocking top under .normal procedure. Then after the first few CQursea-that is, enough u v -v i a Sufficient drawin n f he fabric I w 40 heavier inelastic yarn, preferablya yarn such as would normally be knitted when considering the gage of needles and type of fabric being produced.

the relativelylightinelastic yarnafter the-first few courses andf eedinga second: yarn with it so that the net effect will be that of. fabric in which, at the first few courses, a relatively zlight inelastic yarn is knitted and wherein a. change ismade: to a yarn or yarns considerablyvheavier Elastic yarn l is first introduced to be taken by every .othernneedle for forming va, selvage and that yarn may be taken a singletime a herein illustrated or needles may be floaded up" sothat f a selvage is produced in which several strand 5 3? c c KNITTEDF'ABBE 9 "o cairreouefoentiai ra'llsiR; centmrnans, R. res-# 6 1 ma te, 1*; "2-

a sassinate 4, 4 .J e 1 396 n fltca id Wmla v a clude any number of. accumulated stitches, it has teen u eiiesat e e y wi u e tW0 a. monste -exa e heebpadrew 'v n m ate needlesrat courses A an C 'IT e eare cast a d a n- E t caarn' 1 c mp ei e th m make up one ,t uc grou illustrated herein '0 n n, tuc ec tjiv 1es= t rmedi tef thos Wales in rated to be helds .-In thefpaiiticulanillustration thereinused by wa ;o ,examnle elastic istaken in :w at wi l en l ed ter a e-wales 3;- 5,=1.- d

I l. The intermediate anaem a e designated i es-r 6 15 and: t e fll ele i e ,ls'i e -t uslr, o xi a a ttlng illustrated in yEigsland nu thetfirst firs'efoti iastic, win,

h qetr et 15 a 5. 3% ieiis' 'a 'i vjaeza it str ehte s b t nd h ea s. i lf fihre h each of theinitiai sinkerwales in courseQA. the said t c r-yarn wfl th re iia be se n t r stitches .as' in. course .3.) or

. ce it, knittedTunder suith tabriintogether. sufliapp arance and. for

yarn? oif when the "ne'xt'course f 'inelast'icj'yam E is the course D prior 'to th yarn atvcourse 4.1011 1]?r elasfticyarncourse F a G f: e

is l-knitted whereup n; o

/ I hrle as assin G make up a second tuck grou This is continued throughout any, desireddistance atthetop of the i e ih e-a ldz the be s/ i Ii ie b t six tuck groups serves, very sa actorily, although that may be varied dep nding. upon the gage f I the material being knittedrand thetype .of top under consideration I At course Ha heavier inelasticyam]: is sub-' stituted byyarn change,ior thetrelatively light inelastic yarn This-yarn niwill, as. before inw i e r .o a wei hts ieh a yi 'qiflld n rm .be employedror-the gage and ttypeof fabric knitted. Now the remainder otthe stocking top of the elastic or incorporating itin any other desired way.

It is not essential that the elastic yarn be incorporated to be held as by knitting or inlaying at alternate wales 3, 5, 7, etc. Wales more widely spaced may be selected and likewise, the elastic may skip wales as by jumping the elastic yarn feeding finger, or byusing a plurality of feeds for inelastic yarn and a single feed for elastic yarn. In the event the elastic yarn is to be inlaid, it will then beheld in the tuck wales, that produces a distinctly different edge, but the employment of lighter inelastic. yarn at such an edge will correspondingly allow the fabric -to be drawn in or of smaller diameter at the edge so that the resulting top will appear very much as illustrated in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 a stocking top is generally indicated at l3 while part-of the leg is shown at .14. The edge l5 shown drawn in or contracted would involve knitting, as in Fig. 1, throughout the courses in which lighter yarn 2 is employed.

- Instead of changing yarn and feeding a yarn l2 which is of greater weight than yarn 2, yarn 2 may continue to be fed throughout the entire top and a second yarn will be inserted to feed with it, the weightof both yarns then corresponding to that of the single yarn 12. This avoids a yarn change, but does necessitate mechanism for introducing the second yarn to feed with the light yarn 2.

Mechanism for knitting the fabric herein described is preferably of the type used in circular..independent needle knitting machines although the invention may be applied to other types such as the full fashioned hosiery knitters. The yarn 2 is to be fed at a main yarn feeding station and ordinarily, elastic yarn I will be fed at a separate feeding station which would also include means for selecting needles which were to take that elastic yarn and for drawin them down to form the, independently knitted stitches thereof. Some mechanism is generally referredto and described in United States Pat.- ent #2,131,720 and others, so that it is not deemed advisable to describe it in detail at this time. Similarly, mechanism is now well-known for inlaylng and for knitting elastic in conjuncsize of yarn 2 as compared with yarn [2 may vary for different gages of machine or fabric, but the actual size of the yarn 2 as compared to yarn I2 will merely be determined by selecting a yarn light enough in comparison with the yarn l2 so that suitable contraction at the edge of the fabric is realized. Certain variations may be resorted to without departing from the teaching .co-extensive with the original concept. The invention is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A knitted fabric comprising elastic and inelastic yarns, said elastic yarn being knitted under tension so as to contract and draw the fabric together laterally, inelastic yarn at and adjacent the edge of the fabric being lighter than continuing inelastic yarn whereby the fabric may be drawn together to agreater extent at the edge than in following courses.

2. A knitted fabric comprising elastic and inelastic yarns knitted in consecutive courses so that the said elastic yarn will cooperate to form a salvage and will also draw the fabric together laterally upon contraction, said inelastic yarn being knitted in spaced wales and tucked at intermediate wales and being of lesser weight at and adjacent the. selvage than in following courses.

3. A knitted fabric comprising stitches of elastic and inelastic yarns, said elastic yarn being knitted under tension and at spaced wales and floated over intervening wales, said inelastic yarn being knitted at spaced wales, tucked at intermediate wales and further being of less weight for a plurality of courses at and adjacent the edge of the fabric than in following courses.

4. A knitted stocking top having elastic and inelastic yarns so incorporated that said elastic yarn is knitted at spaced wales and drawn into tuck stitches at intermediate wales while the elastic yarn is so incorporated as to be held at the spaced wales and floated over intermediate or tuck wales, said elastic being knitted under tion with non-elastic yarn so that if the invention is to be practiced according to either of those schemes of incorporating elastic, those skilled in the art would readily understand the machine construction required.

While tucking at certain wales has been known heretofore and rolling or curling at the edge of the fabric is prevented to a great extent in that way, it has been found that tucking in combination with feeding a finer or lighter inelastic yarn at the edge serves to. prevent curling or rolling more effectively. The extent to which the fabric may be drawn in at the edge is controllable for varying the size of inelastic yarn in the first few courses. Drawing the fabric inwardly by feeding a lighter yarn at the edge without tucking is also conducive of good results and a certain amount of curling or rolling may be prevented in that way. For some materials which the top of the stocking is generally worn at the most tapered portion of the leg.

The invention applies to all types of material and to all types of hosiery. The proportionate tension sufficient to draw the said spaced wales together laterally while the fabric is -further allowed to be drawn together more at and adjacent the selvage. since inelastic yarn at and adjacent the edge is of relatively less weight than inelastic yarn substituted therefor throughout a continuing part of the fabric.

5. A knitted stocking top formed from elastic and inelastic yarns, said elastic yarn being in-- corporated under tension and to be held at spaced, that is, non-adjacent wales, several courses of inelastic yam at and adjacent the beginning edge of the top being knitted from an inelastic yarn lighter than would normally be used for the gage of the particular fabric and thereafter having a plurality of courses continuing with inelastic yarn of a normal size for that gage.

6. A knitted stocking top comprising a plurality of courses of which the first course forms a selvage, elastic yarn incorporated under tension and contracted to draw the wales in which it is incorporated to be held. laterally toward each other, inelastic yarn knitted at spaced wales and tucked at intermediate wales throughout a plurality of :courses after which said inelastic yarn is supplemented by a second inelastic yarn, the

size of the first mentioned yarn being substanwould normalh, be employed for the particular gage fabric being knitted.

'7. In-a knitted fabric having courses of elastic and inelastic yarn wherein the elastic yarn is incorporated to be held at spaced wales and under tension so as to contract and draw those spaced wales laterally together, courses of the fabric at and adjacent the selvage thereof being knitted from inelastic yarn of relatively light weight while continuing courses of inelastic yarn are 10 courses of the fabric.

substantially heavier than that inelastic yarn employed in said first courses.

8. A knitted fabric comprising courses oi inelastic yarn and elastic yarn knitted to be held at spaced wales and under tension so as to draw those spaced wales laterally together, said elastic and inelastic yarns forming a selvage at the beginning edge of the fabric and the said inelastic yarn for a few courses at and adjacent the selvage being of a. weight substantially less than continuing inelastic yarn throughout following QSCAR FREGEOLLE. 

